THE traffic jam outside the Stade Armandie in Agen said it all. In this quiet rural backwater, further from the terror in Paris than London and in most ways insulated from events in the big city, too many cars are not often an issue. This was not a normal night, though.
This was the night they wanted to prove that normal life would to on whatever happened and if Edinburgh won the game comfortably enough and continued on their European Challenge Cup journey, Agen and France were the real winners just by staging the game.
They were on a mission. Simply by turning out to watch their adored local team the population had accomplished their goal and flicked a rude gesture in the direction of the terror cells trying to undermine their way of life. They had proved that normal life would go on.
It was trickier for the Edinburgh players. They could not keep away from all the trappings around the match, but they still had a game they wanted and needed to win if they were to keep their European Challenge Cup expectations going.
"It just became a game of rugby, to be honest," said Matt Scott, the centre who had one of his best matches of the season. "The events last week were really horrifying. Speaking to the Grenoble guys after the game last week, that’s when we heard the news and you could see they were cut up about it. It’s been a horrible week in France, so it was nice to pay our respects before the match today.
"As soon as the first whistle goes, though, you’ve got a hundred things to focus on. We just tried to play good rugby. It was nice to have the opportunity to pay the respects, we were lucky to get the chance to do that, to come to a country so soon after a disaster and see everyone so together, the spirit amongst the French people. It’s great, you can feel that."
It was not just to the players that it was obvious this was no ordinary match. Usually Stade Armandie is a typical French municipal stadium with cars crammed into the streets around on match day and little more than a cursory glance at tickets before the fans are welcomed in.
Not this time. The streets around the stadium had been cleared of traffic, you could not get within a quarter of a mile of the ground without running into the first layer of security guards in their paramilitary uniforms – some genuine police, but most from private security firms – and with cars kept at a distance it was having a knock-on effect on traffic in the surrounding areas.
Somehow, the fans made it, and in numbers that underlined that this was a special occasion. After all, Agen are rooted to the bottom of the Top14 and next week they have a derby match against Castres, so under normal circumstances, this would have been an irrelevance. In these circumstances, though, it was a statement and if the surprising arrival of heavy rain kept the uncovered sections either end mostly clear, the stands were close to full.
The silence was heartfelt, the anthem suitably rousing, and then they had to switch off all that emotional baggage and switch onto the rugby. Special occasion or not, there was still a game to be won.
Edinburgh had the elements in the first half but struggled to use them until Greig Tonks, the fly half, landed a couple of kicks to move his team out to a six-point lead early in the second quarter. It was little reward considering the elements in their favour.
The set piece had been the basis of their win over Grenoble last week, and looked like it might do the trick again when Edinburgh won a position in the opposition 22, went for a series of scrums, winning penalties at will until eventually they got one motoring towards the line and winning the penalty try when it was brought down.
Even with the conversion from Tonks, it was not much to show for 40 minutes with that level of advantage from the elements, however.
The big breakthrough came courtesy of Scott at the start of the second half with his break providing the scoring pass for Cornell du Preez, the No8 to barge his way over, and that was just about the game settled. Agen did make more of the wind and managed to peg Edinburgh back with two penalties from Clement Darbo, their captain, but crucially the Edinburgh defence held firm and they never looked like scoring a try, allowing the Scots to have the final word with John Hardie, the flanker, touching down at the back of a maul.
Agen: F Tardieu; L Tagotago (B Sicart, 56), P Fouyssac, J Heriteau, F Nakosi; F Bouvier (T Guillimin, 61), C Darbo (C) (B Cadiou, 72); Q Bethune (V Afatia, 41), M Barthomeuf (F Dufour, 60), N Chocou (D Ryan, 41), J-B Roidot, L Bastien (F Vergnon, 57), S Tau, A Miquel, M Baget (C Braendlin, 57). Pens: Darbo (50, 54)
Referee: P Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Edinburgh: D Fife (B Kinghorn, 72); O Katoa, W Helu (C Dean, 72), M Scott, T Brown; G Tonks, S Kennedy (N Fowles, 65); A Dickinson (R Sutherland, 64), R Ford (N : Cochrane, ), WP Nel (N Cochrane, 67), A Bresler (A Toolis, 2), F McKenzie (sin bin: 80+1-end) N Manu (J Ritchie, 71), J Hardie, C Du Preez. Tries: Pen try (32), du Preez (43), Hardie (69). Cons: Tonks 3. Pen: Tonks (20, 23)
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